SF031Art Of Burning Water
The Voyage of the Pessimistic Philosoph: An Ode to Believers of the Prevailing Law of Sod CD

1. Murder The Skies Of England
2. Standing Jubilantly Beneath The Sword Of Democles [mp3]
3. Armour Down, Bespectacled Man Bludgeons Deer
4. Hello Be Thy Name (Let's Put An End To Hope)
5. Bite Off The Genitals Of The Intellectuals And Piss Down Their Throats
6. Inside I'm Smiling - See You In The Hell
7. Like Two Pigs Rotting (Last Guys Finish Nice)
8. That Headache Is Probably A Brain Tumour
9. Does Your Dick Know Your Hand's Not A Minge?
10. Truthtellers Get Cancer

Aversionline
The incredibly oddly titled "The Voyage of the Pessimistic Philosoph: An Ode to Believers of the Prevailing Law of Sod" is the first I've heard from UK trio Art of Burning Water in the years since their three-way split with American Heritage and Foe. As with that split, this disc comes to us from House of Stairs, though oddly enough the label's website doesn't seem to have been touched in three years!? Whatever the case, this album cranks out 10 tracks in about 27 minutes, so you should generally expect quite short compositions offering a largely instrumental attack of winding riffs and twisted dissonance over pulsing midpaced rhythms that bounce back and forth with somewhat of a math metal type of swagger through loads of tempo changes. But occasional fits of maniacally sneered vocals tear into the picture and add an air of unhinged chaos to the band's presentation as well, so there's plenty of sheer madness to go around (seriously, these vocals are completely fucking sick, I love 'em). I'd definitely cite this as an improvement over their prior work, especially with regard to the sound quality. Everything was recorded by the band, and while raw, personally I think the recording is pretty fucking badass. It's really dry and there's a completely natural vibe to everything, to the point where it almost feels like you're in the room with the band (especially in terms of the percussion). And yet it still somehow boasts a clear and balanced mix, so I've got no quarrels whatsoever. Hell, I really dig the artwork on this thing, too. Nice and spacious with atypical visuals and very little text (no lyrics are included, so I have no idea what the hell could possibly be going on behind some of those completely insane song titles). Well done all around.

Disagreement
The full title of this British three-piece debut album is The Voyage Of The Pessimistic Philosoph: An Ode To Believers Of The Prevailing Law Of Sod, and the song titles are also not the shortest ones I have ever encountered, with Bite Off The Genitals Of The Intellectuals And Piss Down Their Throats being not only their coolest, but also their longest one. Therefore we can already forgive them for writing so short songs. Apart from the two last tracks that run for four respectively eight minutes, the different tracks are rarely longer than two minutes, a time span Art Of Burning Water use to pack as many chords and rhythm changes into their music as is humanly possible. So do expect mathcore of the most relentless kind, with vocals that cut like a chainsaw, guitars that deliver angular spikes and a rhythm section that is terrifyingly fast and precise. Although the album opens with the violin-only Murder The Skies Of England, the following songs are pure rock without any unusual instruments. Like the more psychotic side of Today Is The Day, Art Of Burning Water create a kind of hatred of the highest technical skill, and even if at times you wonder if a mellower part wouldn't give you time to exhale, you are also constantly astonished by their skill to add so many ideas into their condensed compositions. Only the closing Truthtellers Get Cancers, ironically their shortest title and longest song, is slower, although hardly more melodic. This is one mean album, and although Art Of Burning Water convinced already with their participation on the three-way split-album The Combined Stupidity Of Spiteful Men three years ago, you need this whole album to show you the entire spectrum of their insanity. Respectable if not always accessible or pretty effort of a band that needs to be followed in the future.

Last Hours
Winners of the most insane and longest album titles I’ve seen in a while. What does it all mean? Who cares this record rocks! Art of burning water play metal! That is pretty much the only way to describe them. Like Mastodon (who I saw them support and hold their own with many years ago). They cram fast and vast amounts of riffs into each song, with fast destroying drums and heavy duty bass lines. It’s taken them a good while to get this record out although it’s fairly short and the recording sounds like the band broke into the studio, trashed the place with their riffs and fucked off again in a great hurry. Short sharp and to the point. The vocals throw me sometimes when they go all goblin. The use of samples and a few breaks from the frantic pace really make this one of the best metal albums released this year.

Live 4 Metal
I feel like I’ve come across Art Of Burning Water a lot in the past, even though their only previous venture into the world of recording consisted of a four song contribution to a split album with Foe and American Heritage. Perhaps they’ve played on some high profile tours recently, or maybe when I was browsing through a list of upcoming releases, this album title took a good six or seven times longer to read than the rest… Well, however you may have come across this bunch before, Sod’s Law says you should prepare yourself to be forcefully acquainted with them now, and expect to hear more of them in the future. Possible classifiable as noisecore in the confusion that is today’s metal scene, although I would definitely place them proudly next to any of my grindcore releases, these London noisemakers simply aim to destroy. The guitars and drums are, to put it politely, heavier than the combined membership of Weight Watchers, whilst the vocals could easily be mistaken for an escaped lunatic whose straight jacket is starting to chafe. This is neither pretty nor pleasant listening, and is uncompromising as it is short, only 27 minutes in its entirety, including an eight minute long random platter of noise lovingly entitled ‘Truthtellers Get Cancer’. What’s more, there’s plenty of the release on the band’s website to give you an idea of what to expect, so I can’t be blamed for giving duff information, so everybody’s happy! A deceptively mellow intro of violins and atmospherics entitled ‘Murder The Skies Of England’ lead us into the first of the needlessly long titles – ‘Standing Jubilantly Beneath The Sword Of Democles’. The song titles truly live up to that of the album, and seemed to take longer to read than to play, the majority lasting one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half minutes, but then again, they’re fairly humorous and well thought out, so I won’t moan about the fact I have to type them out. ‘Standing…’ does a great job of grabbing you by the goolies from the outset, with its tight and brain-smashingly heavy opening, and things only get heavier when Al-Robei’s blend of wails and screams enter the fray. Faster numbers ‘Armour Down, Bespectacled Man Bludgeons Deer’ and ‘Bite Off The Genitals Of The Intellectualls and Piss Down Their Throats’ (pause for breath) was heavily reminiscent of, and hence every bit as exciting as the first time I set my ears upon Pig Destroyer’s 38 Counts Of Battery. McKenna’s over the top assault of the drum kit perfectly compliments the heavy accents that the band pull off so gracefully. The production job is perfect for this type of genre, with a Mastodon-esque downtuned feel to the guitars, whilst retaining a clarity necessary to prevent the up-tempo numbers descending into uncontrolled noise, and adding a heaviness to the sludgier numbers of ‘Hello Be Thy Name (Let’s Put An End To Hope)’ and trance-inducing instrumental ‘Inside I’m Smiling – See You In The Hell’. The tightness of the follow-up song ‘Like Two Pigs Rotting (Last Guys Finish Nice)’ continues in the same guitar-growling vein, aand would be an instrumental, save a section of absolutely insane yelping from Al-Robei, with an awesome disregard for time signatures (or any type of traditional music whatsoever really) which fully warrants the song title. My favourite two songs, both in terms of their names and content, are found side by side towards the end of the album. ‘That Headache Is Probably A Brain Tumour’ explodes into a hypnotic guitar lead, complete with gorgeous drum brutality and deranged screams which simply send a shiver down your spine. There’s nothing more I can say to prepare you for the frequently (cough) asked ‘Does Your Dick Know Your Hand’s Not A Minge?’. It truly is the product of a disturbed mind and the logical climax of a warped album. I’m not quite sure of the lyrics spewed out by Al-Robei, but they live up to the rest of his bizarre input, whilst the drumming includes a devastating mix of speed breaks and mid-paced heaviness. Quite simply it’s a good way to end the album – which is why the next song, eight minute long ‘Truthtellers Get Cancer’ is a bit of a letdown. Encompassing an atmospheric arty atmosphere akin to Halo, and possessing some neat rhythms and stomach churning heavy sections, it isn’t half bad, but when set against the madness of the previous half hour, it seems rather lazy, and could contend with The Berzerker’s latest frenzy, World Of Lies, for title of ‘worst way to finish a great album’. What is so good about this tribute to the Law of Sod is the perfectly balanced combination of heaviness and pure insanity. Rather than putting off both fans of the noise and grind ‘core’s, I feel this will be positively lapped up by both, and rightfully so. Go check out their website and agree with me. Or Sod right off.

Mashnote
One of the UK's most solid bands have returned with a full length that easily slays its way through the over-populated scene of half-assed Isis clones and mathcore outfits that fail in their math. This new one called "The voyage" (in short) is never dull. It's always interesting, new, inventive and fucking heavy from start to finish. The songs are filled to the brim with mathcore that incorporates a small batch of other influences. The thing that strikes me is that their songs aren't long at all (most around 2 minutes). I think it's mainly the very vivid and technical drumming what makes the songs from this band so creative in a short amount of time. The drums remind me of the lively in-your-face drums of Keelhaul, adding a rumbling, bombastic texture to the mamoth riffs. The vocals tend to annoy me, but luckily Art of Burning Water relies for 90% on instrumental songs. The rawness of the ever changing mamoth riffs reflect an array of influences in the math and sludge scene, but Art of Burning Water is inventive in every song and absolutely stand on their own. It is nearly impossible for me to pin down some highlights on this record, because every song is killer. The first time I listened to this though I could very much appreciate the Keelhaul-esque start song "standing jubilantly beneath the sword of Democles", the stoner touch in "does your dick know your hand's not a minge?" and finally the incredibly heavy sludgy ending of the record with 8+ minutes song "truthtellers get cancer". Props to the guy who did the art work. Classy.

Ninehertz
A subtle swell of strings spills from the speakers, restrained and calm, yet laced with ominously melancholic overtones. Album opener 'Murder the Skies of England' is the proverbial calm before the storm, segueing without warning into a chaotic maelstrom of choppy riffs, scathing vocals and intricate drum work. From here on in, Art of Burning Water take a hatchet to contemporary metal, hacking off pieces of sludge, stoner rock and noisecore as they go. What results is a pleasingly dense and complex record that simply refuses to be pigeonholed. The band display an eclectic palette of influences and manage to fuse them in such a way that they never come off as sounding derivative or predictable. The riffs are satisfyingly complex, employing more than enough clever time changes to keep you on your toes. All this is backed up by busy, fluid drumming that wouldn't sound out of place on a Mastodon record. The vocals are sick mid to high pitched screams that suggest the early onset of a full blown nervous breakdown. It's a little like listening to the result of some sordid union between Keelhaul and Converge after one too many beers. Art of Burning Water have all the technical flair of a band like Keelhaul but boast a raw and venomous edge that puts me in mind of British sludge greats Iron Monkey. It's a pleasure to hear a band who haven't forgotten that straight up riffs can happily co-exist side by side with off kilter time signatures. Perhaps it's just me, but I can't quite shake the notion that there's something quintessentially British about the music on 'The Voyage of the Pessimistic Philospoh'. A kind of twisted acceptance that life will, at times, get so distinctly fucked up that all you can really do is take a step back, unzip your trousers and take a long self satisfied piss on the whole bloody lot. There's an all so familiar dry misanthropic sense of humour running through their music that just couldn't have originated anywhere else. This is visceral, inventive and passionate music that demands attention. I suggest you give it a look.

Rocksound
Art Of Burning Water are a band who wisely play to their strengths. Accordingly, the London trio's debut hurtles from the starting gate with stonking great riffs pouring out of every orifice. Actually, that's not entirely true - intro "Murder The Skies Of England" is a pleasantly understated violin piece, but for the remaining 25 minutes the riff reigns supreme and all else is secondary. Fans of Keelhaul, Melvins and High On Fire will find plenty to tickle their fancy, while admirers of imaginative songtitles should appreciate cuts like "Bite Off The Genitals Of The Intellectuals And Piss Down Their Throats". Really, what more could you ask for? How about a spectacularly unhinged vocal performance from a clearly demented Iraqi? Done!

Stonerrock.com
Art of Burning Water appear to be one of those bands overly enamored with incredibly long titles, both for their record and their songs. The full title of this record is The Voyage of the Pessimistic Philosoph: An Ode to Believers of the Prevailing Law of Sod. What a mouthful. Luckily the music is worth trying to wrap your mouth around these phrases. One of the joys of the internet for bands, and specifically sites like MySpace, is that it opens them up to a much wider audience than that found in just their home town. AoBW were one of the many bands to spam me a friend request on MySpace. When this happens, I usually give the band`s songs about 10 seconds apiece. If nothing grabs me in that time, I skip it. This is one of the few bands that actually grabbed me in my quick perusal of their songs. Shortly after adding them, I ordered their debut full-length. It`s a quick one, 10 songs in about 28 minutes. The tunes are hectic, heavy, spastic, schizophrenic and offbeat. Fans of stuff like Keelhaul and Today Is The Day would not be offended by this stuff. The TITD reference is especially apt in the vocals department, as one of the singers (duties are split between the bass player and guitar player) eerily imitates Steve Austin`s high pitched screech, particularly on track 9, "Does your Dick know your Hand`s not a Minge?" If you like it heavy but not standard, check them out.